Entrepreneurial Management StackOver the last few years we’ve discovered that startups are not smaller versions of large companies. The skills founders need are not covered by traditional books for MBA’s and large company managers. There are now a few books that specifically address founders needs. Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Generation is the first book that allows you to answer “What’s your business model?” intelligently and with precision. Make sure this one is on your shelf.

Osterwalders follow-on book Value Proposition Design describes how to get product/market fit right. It’s another “must have” for your bookshelf.

Eric Ries was the best student I ever had. He took the Customer Development process, combined it with Agile Engineering, and actually did the first implementation in a startup. His insights about the combined Customer Development/Agile process and its implications past startups into large corporations is a sea change in thinking. His book, The Lean Startup is a “must have” for your shelf.

Ben Horowitz’s The Hard Thing About Hard Things is a series essays about what CEO face in the “Build” phase – the transition from searching for a business model into a company.

It’s impossible to implement any of this if you don’t understand Agile Development. Extreme Programming Explained by one of the pioneers of Agile, Kent Beck, is a great tutorial. If you don’t understand Values, Principles and Practices in XP it makes Customer Development almost impossible.

If you’re in a large company, The Other Side of Innovation makes sense of how to actually insert innovation into an execution organization. If you’re starting a medical device company Biodesign:The Process of Innovating Medical Technologies is a must have. It has a great customer discovery process.

Must Read BooksThe subtitle of Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital is the “dynamics of bubbles and golden ages”. A must read to understand the long 50-year innovation cycle we’re in. The other side of innovation is the closest recipe I’ve read for getting entrepreneurship right in large companies. Innovator’s Dilemma and Innovator’s Solution helped me refine the notion of the Four types of Startup Markets. I read these books as the handbook for startups trying to disrupt an established company. The Innovators DNA rings true about the skills founders need to have. Crossing the Chasm made me understand that there are repeatable patterns in early stage companies. It started my search for the repeatable set of patterns that preceded the chasm. The Tipping Point has made me realize that marketing communications strategies for companies in New Markets often follow the Tipping Point. Blue Ocean Strategy is a great way to look at what I’ve called “market type.”

These books are classics but timeless. The Entrepreneurial Mindset articulates the critically important idea that there are different types of startup opportunities. The notion of three Market Types springs from here and Christensen’s work. The book provides a framework for the early marketing/sales strategies essential in a startup. Delivering Profitable Value talks more about value propositions and value delivery systems than you ever want to hear again. However, this is one of the books you struggle through and then realize you learned something valuable. Schumpeter’s book Theory of Economic Development is famous for his phrase “creative destruction” and its relevance to entrepreneurship. Peter Drucker’s Concept of the Corporation was the first insiders view of how a decentralized company (GM) works. His Practice of Management defined “management by objective” and Innovation and Entrepreneurship is a classic. While written for a corporate audience, read it for the sources of innovation. If you write software you already know about Fred Brooks classic text the Mythical Man Month. If you manage a software company you need to read it so you don’t act like Dilbert’s pointy-haired boss. Peppers and Rogers, The One to One Future opened my eyes to concepts of lifetime value, most profitable customers and the entire customer lifecycle of “get, keep and grow.” Bill Davidow’s Marketing High Technology introduced me to the concept of “whole product” and the unique needs of mainstream customers. Michael Porter is the father of competitive strategy. His books Competitive Strategy, Competitive Advantage, and On Competition are still the standards.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the EnterpriseHow large companies can stay innovative and entrepreneurial has been the Holy Grail for authors of business books, business schools, consulting firms, etc. There’s some great work from lots of authors in this area but I’d start by reading the other side of innovation. Next I’d read The Alchemy of Growth to understand the three horizons of innovation and The Future of Mangement and consider its implications. Rita McGrath’s The End of Competitive Advantage shows companies how to take advantage of transient competitive advantage. Stanley Mcchrystal’s Team of Teams is a real world example of chapter 6 of the Four Steps to the Epiphany. Ed Catmull’s description of the Pixar innovation process in Creativity, Inc is a great synthesis of how founders in startup innovate translated into a corporate continuous innovation process.

Then I’d read the short Harvard Business Review articles. Eric Von Hippel work on new product introduction methodologies and the notion of “Lead Users” offer many parallels with Customer Discovery and Validation. But like most books on the subject it’s written from the point of view of a large company. Von Hippel’s four steps of 1) goal generation and team formation, 2) trend research, 3) lead user pyramid networking and 4) Lead User workshop and idea improvement is a more rigorous and disciplined approach then suggested in our book, the Four Steps to the Epiphany. If you’re a mid-level manager in a company or government agency trying to figure out how to your ideas adopted, you need to own a copy of Rebels@Work – it will save your sanity. And Corporate Cultures is a classic about the stories, heroes, values, and rituals that build a corporate culture.

“War as Strategy” Books

The metaphor that business is war is both a cliché and points to a deeper truth. Many basic business concepts; competition, leadership, strategy versus tactics, logistics, etc. have their roots in military affairs. The difference is that in business no one dies. At some time in your business life you need to study war or become a casualty. Sun Tzu covered all the basics of strategy in The Art of War until the advent of technology temporarily superseded him. Also, in the same vein try The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi. These two books have unfortunately turned into business clichés but they are still timeless reading. Carl Von Clausewitz’s On War is a 19th century western attempt to understand war. The “Boyd” book, The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War is a biography and may seem out of place here, but John Boyd’s OODA loop is at the core of Customer Development and the Pivot. Read it and then look at all the web sites for Boyd papers, particularly Patterns of Conflict. The New Lanchester Strategy is so offbeat that it tends to be ignored. Its ratios of what you require to attack or defend a market keep coming up so often in real life, that I’ve found it hard to ignore.

Marketing Communications Books

Ries and Trout positioning books can be read in a plane ride, yet after all these years they are still a smack on the side of the head. Regis McKenna has always been a favorite of mine. However, as you read Relationship Marketing separate out the examples Regis uses into either startups or large sustainable businesses. What worked in one, won’t necessarily work in another. Read these books first before you dive into the 21st century stuff like Seth Godin.

Seth Godin “gets deeply” the profound changes the internet is having in the way we think about customers and communicating with them. Godin’s All Marketers are Liars talks about the power of storytelling in marketing. His Permission Marketing book crystallized a direct marketing technique (permission marketing), which was simply impossible to achieve pre-internet. Read his Ideavirus after you’ve read Permission Marketing. Made to Stick gives you the tools to make your messages “sticky.” I put Sway here because great marketers know how to find these irrational behaviors Lakoff’s book, Don’t Think of an Elephant! while written for a political audience has some valuable insights on framing communications.

Sales

Lean Analytics is a great discussion about metrics that matter for web/mobile startups. Predictable Revenue is one of those short, smart, tactical books that you need to read if you have a direct sales force. Thomas Freese is the master of consultative selling. Both his books are a great start in understanding how a pro sells. Cracking the Sales Management Code provides a best practice approach to on how to effectively manage a sales force. Jeff Thull’s Mastering the Complex Sale has a lot of elements of Customer Discovery and Validation, but skip the first 50 pages. Many of the ideas of Customer Validation are based on the principles articulated by Bosworth, Heiman and Rackham. Bostworth’s Solution Selling and it’s successor, The New Solution Selling are must reads for any executive launching a new product. Its articulation of the hierarchy of buyers needs as well its description of how to get customers to articulate their needs, makes this a “must read”, particularly those selling to businesses. Yet in his new book What Great Salespeople Do he says, ignore those books follow this advice. Heiman’s books are a bit more tactical and are part of a comprehensive sales training program from his company Miller-Heiman. If you are in sales or have a sales background you can skip these. But if you aren’t they are all worth reading for the basic “blocking and tackling” advice. The only bad news is that Heiman writes like a loud salesman – but the advice is sound. Rackham’s Spin Selling is another series of books about major account, large ticket item sales, with again the emphasis on selling the solution, not features. Lets Get Real is of the Sandler School of selling (another school of business to business sales methodology.) Jill Konrath has great strategies and insights for large sales. Baseline Selling uses baseball metaphors but it’s an effective explanation of how to do consultative selling. I sure could have used the Complete Idiots Guide to Cold Calling when it was just me and the telephone. The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing provides a great framework for thinking about “how much should I charge for this?”

Startup Law and Finance

If you don’t pay attention to the law from the day you start your company it can kill you. But most books (and lawyers) speak in their own arcane language. David Weekly’s An Introduction to Stock and Options should be your first read (unfortunately its Kindle only.) The Entrepreneurs Guide to Business Law is the one book you ought to have on your shelf. While not written explicitly for Silicon Valley startups it demystifies the most common areas you need to know. Term Sheets and Valuations is a great read if you’re faced with a term sheet and staring at words like “liquidation preferences and conversion rights” and don’t have a clue what they mean. Read this and you can act like you almost understand what you are giving away.

Silicon Valley/Regional Clusters

Brad Feld’s Startup Communities posits a big idea: startup communities are driven by entrepreneurs who are the leaders and everyone else is a feeder. Essential reading if you’re trying to build your own cluster. Anna Lee Saxenian’s Regional Advantage is the definitive text of why Silicon Valley beat Boston as the hub of U.S. entrepreneurship. Startup Nation is the story of how the Israeli government engineered the country into becoming the hottest cluster outside the U.S. for startups. In contrast, Josh Lerner’s Boulevard of Broken Dreams describes the multiple ways governments can screw up a cluster. Jessica Livingston’s Founders At Work are the best case studies/vignettes without a PR rewrite of how founders really start companies. The Startup Playbook also does a good job of offering founders advice. An Engineer’s Guide to Silicon Valley Startups is one of those quirky books that perfectly match Silicon Valley culture. If you’re an engineer in the valley or coming out, this is a useful read. It describes what types of startups are there, how to get a job at one, negotiating your salary, stock options, etc. Geek Silicon Valley is part history and part travel guide. Also useful.

Venture Capital

If you buy one book to understand how VC’s and fund raising works, Venture Deals is the one. Wish I had it when I did startups. Same for Mastering the VC Game. If you read two books about how to deal with VC’s start here. The rest of the books are personal stories. Bill Draper’s book is both history and advice from a VC pioneer. If you have never experienced a startup first hand, Jerry Kaplan’s bookStartup and Michael Wolff’s book Burn Rate are good reads of a founder’s adventure with the venture capitalists. Eboys is the story of Benchmark Capital during the Internet Bubble. Ferguson’s book is a great read for the first time entrepreneur. His personality and views of the venture capitalists and “suits” are a Rorschach ink blot test for the reader.

Startup Nuts & BoltsNesheim’s book High Tech Startup is the gold standard of the nuts and bolts of all the financing stages from venture capital to IPO’s. If you promise to ignore the marketing advice he gives you, Baird’s book, Engineering Your Startup is the cliff notes version in explaining the basics of financing, valuation, stock options, etc. Gordon Bells’ book High-Tech Venturesis incomprehensible on the first, second or third read. Yet it is simply the best “operating manual” for startups that has been written. (The only glaring flaw is Bell’s assumption that a market exists for the product and that marketing’s job is data sheets and trade shows.) Read it in doses for insight and revelation and make notes, (think of reading the bible) rather than reading it straight through.

Startup Textbooks

If you take an entrepreneurship class in a Business School or University you’ll probably encounter one of these textbooks.The reason you don’t see them on the desks of working entrepreneurs is that at $100-$150+ they’re all priced for a captive student audience. (Some do have paperback versions for $50-$85.) The other uncomfortable fact is that most startups in Silicon Valley ignore these textbooks once they leave school. In the real-world startups are now built using the business model/customer development/agile engineering stack. Not one of these textbooks teach that.

Of all the texts, Technology Ventures is “the gold standard” of entrepreneurship textbooks. Jeff Timmons’ New Venture Creation has too much great stuff in it to ignore. At first read it is simply overwhelming but tackle it a bit a time and use it to test your business plan for completeness. Business Plans that Work summarizes the relevant part of Timmons’ New Venture Creation book and teaches how to write a document (the business plan) that no one ever reads. However, both books are worth having if you’re in a large company thinking about introducing follow-on products.

Manufacturing

I’ve yet to meet a manufacturing person that does not reference The Goal when talking about lean manufacturing principles first. It’s a book inside a novel – so it humanizes the manufacturing experience. Lean Thinking is the best over all summary of the lean manufacturing genre. Toyota Production System is the father of all lean manufacturing – it’s simple tone is refreshing.

Presentation and Product Design

Nancy Duarte’s two books, Slid:eology and Resonate are about presentation design. These are the two books I refer entrepreneurs to who want to build a killer customer presentation. The advice may not work for all audiences but it’s a great place to start. Cooper’s book, The Inmates are Running the Asylum, is about product design. It had the same impact on me as Moore’s Crossing the Chasm – “why of course, that’s what’s wrong.” It’s important and articulate.

Culture/Human Resources

What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 and InGenious are the books I give all young entrepreneurs.If you are in a large company and wondering why your company isn’t going anywhere your answers might be found in Good to Great. Written by Jim Collins, the same author who wrote Built to Last, both are books that “you should be so lucky” to read. What differentiates good companies versus great? How do you institutionalize core values into a company that enable it to create value when the current management is long gone? When I first read these, I thought they were only for companies that were lucky enough to get big. Upon reflection, these books were the inspiration for the “Mission-Oriented Culture.” Read these two books together.

Ironically, the best HR stuff for anyone in a startup to read is not a book. It is the work James Baron at Stanford has done. Download his slides on the Stanford Project on Emerging Companies. Baron’s book, Strategic Human Resources – is a classic HR textbook. Finally, if you are working at a startup and wondering why the founder is nuts, The Founder Factor helps explain a few things.

I’m not sure how to characterize The Checklist Manifesto so I stuck it here. It’s a quick read with some insights that match why Business Model strategy need to be translated into Customer Development checklists.

Alfred Sloan’s My Years with General Motors is a great read, but not for the traditional reasons. Read it from the point of view of an entrepreneur (Durant) who’s built a great company by gut and instinct, got it to $200M and is replaced by the board. Then watches as a world-class bureaucrat grows into one of the largest and best run companies in the world. Make sure you read it in conjunction with Sloan Rules and A Ghost’s Memoir. If you’re an entrepreneur the one founder you probably never heard of but should is William Durant. Read Madsen’s biography. The Nudist on the Late Shift is a book you send to someone who lives outside of Silicon Valley who wants to know what life is like in a startup. If you want to understand how the modern corporation formed Chandlers’ Strategy and Structure is the “Ur text.”

Books/Articles on the Entrepreneurial University

My friend, Stephen Spinelli President of Philadelphia University offered this great reading list on the activity of the university in tech transfer/collaborations with business, community and government. The list also covers the activity/behavior/leadership of the university president.

All of the following four chapters are in the: Journal of the Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education, Higher Education Management. Vol. 13, No. 2, 2001. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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I highly recommend Amar Bhide’s “The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses”. A serious academic inquiry into the nature of the entrepreneurial endeavor, this book provides some very helpful and surprising insights about what makes a new venture work.

There are two books I always tell people to start with. The first is Crossing the Chasm which you mention, the second is Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker. I’m also a fan of Timmons’ work, although I leave that for a phase two reference material, which it sounds like you do as well. I have to admit, I was somewhat surprised that none of Drucker’s work made your shortlist.

Great list though I would love to add Peter Church’s book Added Value-the life stories of Indian business leaders. Amazing insight on some truly inspirational people. The book is an excellent primer for anyone seeking to do business.

However, it is crucial that any startup focuses on sales as the top priority (it’s easy to get caught up in the entrepreneurial literature, but that doesn’t pay the bills).

Going to a trade fair, talking to potential customers early, trying to build relationships and attempting an early sale are the crucial steps. But definitely have a read through Steve’s list in the evening.

[…] Ries What are lean startups? Eric Ries What is customer development? Steve Blanks must read books Books/blogs for Startups A podcast version of a similar kind of speech can be found from the STVP Entrepeneurial Thought […]

It would be awesome to have this in PDF form or on Scibd so I could take it offline without wasting paper (aka the Green option).

Thanks so much for this fantastic list of books. I was surprised by two omissions:
1) Art of the Start
2) Founders at Work

I think the two free videos of Jeff Haskins at the Stanford E-corner you highlight in your syllabus as incredibly on point too.

Finally, I’m curious if books on software (for instance Joel on Software), project management (for instance Scott Berkun), and outsourcing would be increasingly valuable as globalization revolutionizes what start ups look like and how they behave.

Simply wanted to share my gratitude for providing this list. After spending all day reading your articles and watching your engrossing “Secret History of Silicon Valley” presentation, I now find a brilliant capper.

There are two books I always tell people to start with. The first is Crossing the Chasm which you mention, the second is Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker. I’m also a fan of Timmons’ work, although I leave that for a phase two reference material, which it sounds like you do as well. I have to admit, I was somewhat surprised that none of Drucker’s work made your shortlist.
+1

We really appreciate your reference to our Compensation Section in your “books/blogs for startups” page. We’re continuing to build our content, and are working hard to get CEOs to contribute redacted information. The link below will take anyone interested to a discussion forum with some more information on this.

I was surprised, though, that Competitive Stragey (Michael Porter) is not on this list. Forbes’ “Checklist: The 20 Most Important Questions In Business”, for example, relies heavily on Porter’s five forces. No business plan or ppt, or even value statement is complete without an understanding of competition.

Prolific A. David Silver (e.g. Venture Capital) might also be considered for this list.

In the HR section, how about “Who” by Street and Smart? This definied ‘A Players’ and how to attract them.

With respect to an overall plan and execution, there are two books that jump to mind. Harnish’s “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits” builds a critical ‘Right Things Right’ model. Second, Thomson’s ‘Blueprint to a Billion” does a fantastic job of reverse engineering the seven critical sucess elements from those companies that made it big.

Hi Steve,
My current ACTiVATE class (see http://www.txstate.edu/activate for more details) is reading and discussing your Epiphany book. The content is invaluable as we pursue the opportunities presented by tech transfer and own own entrepreneurial projects. If you ever want input from a professional editor (I teach technical writing at the university level) for your next edition, please let me know. I have been editing each chapter as we progress through our assignments and would be happy to discuss how an edited presentation of your experience/knowledge can communicate ideas more effectively. Who knows, it might increase sales? In any case, thanks for sharing your wisdom!

One of the most formative books recommended to me on complex sales is “Exceptional Selling” by Jeff Thull. I found it to be very complimentary to your book “The four steps to the epiphany.”

I would be interested to here your perspective on this book. I recommend it to budding entrepreneurs as it forces them to validate their value hypothesis with a “real” problem, the problem’s cost for the customer, and the priority of the problem for the customer.

Thanks for compiling very useful list of books and resources. I have read some and the rest I will when it may be required.

I wanted to thank you for a great presentation on ‘Retooling early stage startups’ at Stanford edcorner. I live in Tokyo and have listened to this when on the subway at least a 100 times and can almost say the words before you say it on the podcast 🙂 It is a testament to how valuable you words and thoughts have been to me as I make way through various entrepreneurial ventures.

Would love to meet you if and when you do come to Tokyo. Your dinner will be on me. Seriously! So do give me a shout and I will be honoured to meet you.

Steve, have you considered making an audio book of The Four Steps to the Epiphany? I’m a member of the LeanStartupPhilly group and find that our members have a hard time reading… and believe they’ll do better with an audio format. I have a person who can make the audio book–we’d just need to work out permission and royalties with you…

Great list, useful post! I finished business school in 97 and have used my original copy of Timmons’ New Venture Creation in every job since. Slideology is a close second in the ‘books that are dog-eared from too much use’ race.

[…] 5, 2011View All 0 CommentsCannot add comment at this time. Senthil Nambi Have you seen https://steveblank.com/books-for-… It isn't exactly confined to lean startup method, but the list is by Steven Blank, who […]

Here are the books people mentioned more than once in the answers below: Start ups and Entrepreneurship 1. The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank 2. Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston 3. Rework by 37signals people 4. How to Get Rich by Felix…

Great Books for Social Entrepreneurs: Six Quick Suggestions 1. Bornstein’s 2nd book is a quick read & a great overview of the field (conceptually & organizationally) 2. Life Entrepreneurs (targeted more at a career of social enterprise & change) 3. If…

I would like to add at least one book to the list. The topic is human behavior. As an entrepreneur I risk saying that on the end we’re all Illusionists, because we offer lust for a better future in uncertain present. And for us the only way to succeed is to create commitment, retention and passion on our customers, co-workers and employees. So the understanding of the mechanics of the human motivation, urgency and decision are key knowledges to the entrepreneur.

After my long speech I suggest:
Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion
Robert B. Cialdini

Thanks for the great list. As a part of the course, I had to study “Starting something..” by Wayne McVicker, it was a great book on starting up, culture, making decisions, and everything in a company that started small , went public and got bought out.

[…] I will explain into some details his theory but the main reason I love this book is how he explains why founders are critical in all the decisions of the early phases of a start-up. Not the usual “hire business people”, but “learn and become an expert until you reach your limits”. I should immediately add that it is not an easy book to read and certainly mostly useful to people in the process of launching a start-up. His web site steveblank.com is also very informative, you will find tons of slides of his teachings on the web and I particularly recommend the list of books he suggests reading. […]

I see you have added textbooks also. Don’t you think the technology venutres by tom byers should be must read books other then that its highly priced. I see it covers everything holistically which is good as it really connect the dots.

[…] The book “Four Steps to the Epiphany” has become a popular manual for technology entrepreneurs seeking a strong match between their products and customer needs and behaviors that lead to strong business models. In his book, Steve Blank describes how important it is to be in front of customers getting continuous feedback throughout the entire product creation, go-to-market and business model development process. If you’re responsible for a product, developing a market, running business or starting a company, we highly recommend Steve Blank’s website: http://steveblank.com and book https://steveblank.com/books-for-startups/ […]

Steve,
A great collection of Books can’t. Wait to feast on many of them. I’m from Nigeria and might need to Handle the challenge of acquiring these greaT teXts. What advice will you give. I’m seriously considering a start up and also lecturing entrepreneurship at a post degree level. Was hunting for materialS when I discover your work.
Pls do get in touch. I’ve done some short listing that I need urgently

Steve just saw your You Tube talk. Thought it was great. Fits in very well with my experience. I recently had my work on Business Strategy and SME’s published, http://www.box.com/shared/1cgxb3z718 . The focus was very much the same as yours, btw I also interpreted Clausewitz for SME’s in the same article.

I also customised an MBA for Startups in a book called MBA for Startups. I focused on how Entrepreneurs could use Business Management to help them through the transition phase you highlighted.

Dear Mr Steve Blank. We would like to invite you to give a lecture on new aspects of business models in Brazil.

In the last three to four years, the tools that guide the business models were modernized and technicians in Brazil did not absorb the new techniques to the point of being able to make it available to startup.

Very contribute to the dissemination of new techniques accepting our invitation.

We have a good environment for discussion in our incubator that surely we can gather business and technical around a lecture.

I am currently reading your book, startup owner’s manual. There is a little “vol 1” at the beginning of the book, and as you cover the customer discovery / validation phases in the book, I suppose vol 2 will be about customer creation / Company building.

[…] off campuses will tip their hat in return. The recent books by Marc Nager, Brad Feld, Eric Ries and Steve Bank are just the beginning of scholarship around the science of startups. As the literature makes these […]

At SXSW I shared a copy of the book Startup: An insider’s Guide with you.(**Shameless Self Promotion**) It definitely belongs on your Startup reading list! It has gotten a lot of very positive feedback from the startup community, especially on how to make new ventures work when you are not in Silicon Valley.

Have a great week, and thank you for posting such valuable information on Open Source Entrepreneurship.

[…] brain is to read works by those who are successful at what they do. Below is a selection from a Startup reading list curated by Steve Blank on his blog. As we try move forward on this blog, we will try to have […]

[…] on disruption in the mid 1990’s and then reading the Innovators Dilemma. Each of these authors (along with others too numerous to mention) profoundly changed my view of management and strategy. All of this in one […]

[…] in the mid 1990’s and then reading the Innovator’s Dilemma. Each of these authors (along with others too numerous to mention) profoundly changed my view of management and strategy. All of this in one […]

Hi Josep, Why Killer Products Don’t Sell is all about risk and adoption and impact on behavior. It picks up on DofI and tips its hat to Crossing the Chasm. You can download the Killer Products whitepaper here. http://www.admarco.net/killer-products-whitepaper-/

I thought you might find the material we are generating useful. http://startupready.net/blog/ . The intention is to evetually generate it into a book, So the more you engage with the material there the more likely the book will meet your needs.

Look forward to your comments and thoughts on what we have already posted.

[…] The Four Steps to the Epiphany, by Steve Blank. The author draws on his start-up company experience across a broad spectrum of roles to deliver a great manual for start-ups. Now teaching at Stanford and U.C. Berkeley, Blank helps you figure out your start-up’s right product and market through a disciplined step-by-step process. This book is the ultimate go-to guide for small business startups. […]

[…] of his first published work that details his insight on the Customer Development process, ‘The Four Steps to Epiphany‘. The book explains his outlook on entrepreneurship and that it can be practiced, but not as […]

The topics cover everything from Negotiations, Business Model Innovation to organising blogger out reach programs. The papers are good introductions to the business areas and the videos are from industry.

[…] to know if you do not really know? Steve Blank, acclaimed Silicon Valley entrepreneur, author of books, and teacher at notable places like Stanford and for the NSF I-Corps program, calls it “Get out […]

Why there is no audio book for your book “The four steps to the Epiphany” ?

It actually helpful for some readers to publish audio books, and here are the benefits I think that worth it:
* Listening and following the hardcover book at the same time double the comprehension, because I’m using two senses here..
* Some people like to hear audio books while driving and commuting.